


Lis entre les lignes

by Kali Cephirot (10AlliraDream84)



Category: Loveless
Genre: Dysfunctional Relationships, I want you so bad, M/M, Multi, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-26
Updated: 2010-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-13 09:44:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10AlliraDream84/pseuds/Kali%20Cephirot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This whole thing started when Kio sketched Ritsuka.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
**Lis entre les lignes.**   


_  
Comme tout le monde j'ai mes défauts  
J'ai pas toujours les mots qu'il faut  
Mais si tu lis entre les lignes  
Tu trouveras dans mes chansons  
Tout c'que je n'ai pas su te dire  
Tu Trouveras, Natasha St. Pier.    
_

He starts to take notices of the fact that something’s weird one day he’s sketching Ritsuka. First time it’s different from all the other times since it isn’t a modeling session; this is Ritsuka leaning against the wall besides Soubi’s bed, watching over his sleep, tiny amethyst slits open that every now and then blink the only thing that shows him Ritsuka is awake.

His pencil is moving as if it had a soul of it’s own, he has lit cigarettes one after the other without taking much more than a drag, eyes going from Soubi to Ritsuka to notebook to Soubi and once and again. The last time he spoke was over two hours ago, when he asked Ritsuka if the smoke bothered him and the teen replied with a distracted ‘no’.

Soubi’s labored breath is the one sound they’re both paying attention to – even the scratch of the pencil seems kind of intrusive at times – and Kio barely remembers a time where he used to blame the same kid in front of him as the one to hurt Soubi. Now he just takes silent notice of his clenched fists and the new dressed wound over his face and makes a mental note to take care of them later.

“I’m… sorry for always troubling you, Kio-san.” Ritsuka’s voice is quiet and for a moment Kio thinks he might have imagined it, but when he actually looks towards the boy, his head is bowed in front of him, wisps of black hair blocking his clenched eyes. Kio looks towards Ritsuka’s hands and he’s not surprised to find the clenched fists shaking.

There’s a brief pang inside his chest then as he thinks _‘how lucky you are, Sou-chan’_ , but he ignores it as he leaves his sketch-book and moves to kneel in front of Ritsuka, smiling at him and holding his fists to stop the shaking before he hurts himself.

“Rit-chan, you’re not troubling me.” He says warmly before grinning, giving a wink. “It’s that idiot over there that troubles us _both_ , right?”

He’s rewarded by a confused stare before Ritsuka’s face blooms into a tired smile but smile nonetheless, eyes closed and the auburn of the sunrise clinging to his eyelashes and lips.

“You’re right.” Ritsuka agrees with a soft nod and Kio stands up, messing up his hair carefully, but Ritsuka catches his wrist and gives a soft squeeze. “I’m glad you’re here, Kio-san.”

Caught off ward, Kio barely manages to nod before walking towards the kitchen and asking Ritsuka what he wants for breakfast. Soubi’s voice rasping a _‘coffee, black’_ makes him ignore the brief moment of something to instead join Ritsuka into the delight of screaming to the stupid bastard for making him – _them_ – worry.

****

The next time Kio realizes he has issues, it’s also discovered between the lines of his sketches.

“Sou-chaaaaan!” He bangs over the door loudly, almost thirty minutes before Soubi has to go and present the test he missed because he was injured and recovering. “Sou-chaaaaan, you’re gonna be late!”

Soubi opens up, hair still wet, bandages recently tied and shirt open, looking over his shoulder before whispering.

“Ritsuka’s sleeping.”

When he lets him inside, Kio knows that he won’t be able to say anything about Soubi being a pervert, because if there was even the chance of that happening, Soubi wouldn’t have let him inside.

Just as he expected, Ritsuka’s curled over himself on the bed wearing Soubi’s shirt and sweatpants that swim over his body, bruises over his face and new bandages wrapped around his arms and Kio sighs before he takes out a lollypop, giving Soubi one without asking.

“I don’t want him to stay alone.” Soubi says finally, not even trying to button up his shirt, and Kio rolls his eyes, moves to button Soubi’s shirt with the easiness that comes from practice and hands him a scrunchie, just before he starts pushing Soubi towards the door.

“Go, I’ll take care of your jailbait.”

It’s obvious Soubi was waiting for that response because he only pauses to take his cigarettes and his jacket, stealing his lollypop and nodding.

“I’ve my cellphone if Ritsuka wants to–”

“ _Go_.”

So he’s alone after Soubi gives a soft smile towards the bundle of teenager in bed and Kio rolls his eyes some more before he moves to pick up the apartment because, even if God knows that he loves the man, Soubi can’t clean to save up his life; he gently shakes his head at the way Ritsuka’s clothes were abandoned and he washes them carefully until the blood is nothing but an awful memory and then sits in the same chair Ritsuka usually sits when Soubi’s injured, and he picks out his sketch-book and starts drawing.

Kio knows he has issues and that he has been Soubi’s friend for far too long when Ritsuka mumbles something in his sleep, stretches a bit before curling back again, and he looks down and finds that his white page is covered by the sketched lines of Ritsuka’s back, wisps of hair curling over his neck and too thin shoulders and for some reason he has drawn a butterfly over his – naked – shoulder blade.

A picture is worth it more than ten thousand words and all that, after all. He always knew that perviness was dangerous; he just didn’t realize it was contagious.

Then Ritsuka moans as he stretches again, rolling over his back, rubbing his eye with an equally bandaged hand. The smile he gives him does something to his insides that Kio would love to be able to say was nausea.

“Morning, Kio-san.”

***

“Ritsuka likes you.”

And of course the complete bastard that Soubi is has to wait until he’s carefully applying the shadows to his almost done canvas to say that. His charcoal makes an angry line that runs all the way from the model’s hand to her foot and Kio glares at Soubi until, if the world was fair, he’d shrivel up and start to self combust.

As it is, he just puts his _‘oh, did I cause that?’_ face and keeps on with his sketching. Kio takes a deep breath and goes back to his own before he makes Soubi choke on it.

“Really? Uh.”

“He thinks you’re a good friend.” Soubi pauses a moment. “And I do too.”

There’s warmth unfolding over his stomach, low and spreading, and he tries to keep from smiling but fails.

“I like him too.” When that feels too naked and too close to the truth for him to be comfortable, he gives a tiny snort and grins to Soubi. “Nice kid. It’s a shame he’s such a pedobait, but…”

Soubi snorts too, but there’s a tug over his lips that lasts all class.

***

The deal is that he’s been in love with Soubi for a while now, and being in love with Soubi means, at times, having to hate him just enough to be able to try and drill sense into his brain washed skull, and it means mostly caring enough to stay by his side even with the possibility that he wouldn’t care at all if you didn’t.

And he cares about Ritsuka, too, because he feels the same way he does about Soubi, even though the kid has 95% of Soubi’s undivided attention, and he does like Ritsuka, the sharp intelligence and the wisps of sarcasm that show from his personality, even if he’s messed up, too, and these days he doesn’t dare to call Soubi a pedophile because he really understands why he likes Ritsuka, he really does, and he’s going to blame Soubi for that for the next ten or twenty years or so.

Kio thinks that he might have something for mental cases. And for people already in love. It’s just all between the lines of care and love and friendship, and that he has mixed them up so much that it’s impossible to know when one starts, when one finishes, when did his became up tangled with Soubi’s and Ritsuka’s.

Sometimes, Kio thinks that he might be a bit of a mental case himself.

***

He wakes up with the sudden feeling of a breath against his neck and an unfamiliar (and yet almost not) smell drifting up his nose, and when he looks towards the side, Ritsuka is leaning against his arm, breathing slowly, his lips softly open after the exhaustion had finally taken its toll on him.

Kio’d reach to touch him out of curiosity, trail a hand down his hair and over his jaw and his chin and touch the skin of his face, just to make sure he’s real but Soubi is sitting in front of them, leaning over his knees, and the only bandage he’s wearing is the one around his neck. He’s not wearing his glasses, and his eyes seem dark and full of something he’s not sure what to name, but there’s the softest of smiles playing upon the corner of his lips.

“You two look good together, Kio.”

He blushes and he’d flinch away of the way those eyes aren’t blaming him and are doing nothing but being perhaps a bit amused. “Sou-chan! Is not–”

Soubi gives a warm, throaty laugh and he shakes his head. “Kio, it’s okay. I told you, Ritsuka likes you.”

And he wants to answer that no, it’s not okay, that _he_ shouldn’t be saying that it’s okay because, dammit, he loves the boy, doesn’t he? So he should feel jealous and angry that his best friend has something for him, it’s the obvious answer anyone remotely normal would feel, but of course Soubi has to be different here and instead of hitting him he’s kissing him, a warm hand against his cheek and he presses close, a knee between Kio’s and a soft hand touching Ritsuka’s face, and even though he wants to protest he’s not able too, and instead gives a soft moan into the kiss.

“Sou-chan…” he mutters after the kiss, and tries to complain and pretend he doesn’t want to, that he didn’t like it, but it’s more of a silent question, wondering about the teenager sleeping by his side and the fact that Kio’d rather do a Van Gogh before hurting the kid.

Soubi’s smile seems to widen and softly, just as silently as before, Soubi lowers to his knees, between the brief space where his legs and Ritsuka’s are not touching, and he cups carefully the sleeping teen’s face, kissing him awake.

Ritsuka makes a mumbling sound as he kisses back, mostly still asleep even when Soubi gently tugs on the full curve of his lower lip, when a kiss becomes another, and another, and Kio can’t stop himself from watching when Ritsuka’s hands move to Soubi’s shoulder, still sounding half asleep, and he can’t move from there, can’t make a bolt for the door, feeling as if Soubi’s hand on his thigh was keeping him there even as his throat goes dry.

“Wake up, Ritsuka.” Soubi says softly and Kio panics, eyes wide. He wonders how much of chance he has to make a run for the door before the kid’s eyes open, but then Ritsuka is looking at Soubi with a confused look before he takes notice of the fact that he’s also there when his whatever-they’re-calling-it is almost making out with him.

“Soubi!” Ritsuka’s ears press against his skull and he flushes, tail swinging from side to side, obviously nervous and embarrassed. “What are you doing!?”

“I’m going!” Kio says, but Soubi’s hand was still over his thigh.

“Ritsuka wants you to stay.”

“Soubi!”

“Sou-chan!”

“Am I wrong?” Soubi asks, his voice still warm and just a little amused, and in any other occasion Kio would say to Ritsuka to team together against the obviously evil bastard that Soubi is, but at the moment and at the way Soubi’s voice sounds, ‘teaming up’ had much more implications than the ones he means.

For the way Ritsuka is blushing, he’s thinking the same. “I…”

And Soubi leans against Ritsuka’s side, kissing him softly, lips moving down the line of his jaw and nuzzling his neck. The scared, wide eyed look Ritsuka still remains, even though he curls a hand over Soubi’s shirt.

“It’s okay, Ritsuka.” Soubi says, voice so warm, so deep. “Just tell him.”

And if Kio had had the tiniest chance of running before, he realizes it’s all lost now because there’s no way he’s going to be able to say no to Ritsuka when his eyes are looking up to him like that. If a picture speaks thousand words, Ritsuka’s eyes speak of whole universes as he looks at him through his eyelashes, moving a hand over his wrist.

“Kio-san…”

A part of Kio’s brain knows that he’s going to have to deal with a very smug Soubi in the morning (since apparently the freak is completely a-okay with all this) but at the moment he can’t care about that, already caring at the way his hand cups Ritsuka’s face and slides through a few strands of his hair, tilting his head up to kiss him.

He’d say everything went to hell, but with Soubi’s hand stroking the inside of his thigh and Ritsuka giving a sigh over their kiss, his hand still holding unto his wrist, Kio knows he wouldn’t dare to say such an obvious lie.

***

Kio groans, lips against Ritsuka’s pulse. Moving from the couch to the bed had been easy enough, even if it had taken its time. By the time he sat on the bed, pulling Ritsuka between his legs, the teen had been naked and shivering, an embarrassed flush warming up all of his skin, and Soubi had been behind him, taking his shirt, opening his jeans. Kio had devoured hungrily the lines of Soubi’s body as he took off his own jersey, had stopped from kissing Ritsuka to instead kiss Soubi until they were both startled by the soft moan coming from the teen’s throat.

“‘m not fucking a kid.” Kio says, even though he’s so, so close of deciding that Ritsuka is mature enough for him to delude himself, especially with the way he’s squirming underneath him; even more with the way Soubi’s hand keeps stroking his cock. Ritsuka doesn’t seem to mind his statement, but he gasps when Kio sucks over his collarbone, leaving a mark.

Soubi’s chuckle is honey warm against his ear, even as his hand stops stroking his cock to instead, softly, start rubbing a finger against his hole before softly pushing inside. Kio moans in both yearning and relief, and softly graces his teeth against Ritsuka’s collarbone.

“Good,” Soubi says in a voice that’s almost normal. Kio gives a slow hiss when he starts moving the finger inside him, stretching him, and Ritsuka kisses him then, holding his face with his hands. Kio moans inside the kiss when Soubi’s finger curls just so, and he knows Soubi’s smirking when he speaks again. “Because Ritsuka still wants to keep his ears.”

They both break the kiss at the same time, shrilling another ‘SOUBI!’ but his voice turns to a groan as Soubi takes out his finger to press inside with another, and he notices Ritsuka’s eyes are wide and intense over him so he kisses him again, shifting when Soubi’s fingers become three, giving a slow hiss when Ritsuka moans, trembling softly against his arms.

And Soubi presses in, presses close, presses warm against his back while Ritsuka keeps making small noises against his mouth, hard against his own cock and Kio has but a moment to dully realize that their lines are even more tangled then, for the way Ritsuka’s knee is against his waist , pressing close, and Soubi’s fingers are beside that, over his hip and when Ritsuka moves a hand behind him, Kio is almost able to see the way Soubi nuzzles it. It doesn’t last much, that moment of introspection, because Ritsuka gives a small nod and Soubi's breath sounds like a wave before he starts thrusting inside him. Kio moves an arm under Ritsuka’s waist to press him just as close, starts rocking against him, feeling himself shiver at the way the teen moans and gasps; Soubi reacts to the same stimuli, the hands over his hips holding tighter.

“So-Soubi!” Ritsuka moans; Kio keeps a firm hold of his hips and of the way they rub together when Soubi thrusts, “Kio-san!” and after that there’s the taught line of his body as his climax hits him, come against his stomach and Kio remembers that he’s still a kid, after all, barely a teenager, but he stops short from wondering when he had become a child molester when Ritsuka’s hand, still trembling after his orgasm, moves between them and takes hold of his cock, stroking him at the rhythm Soubi has.

Soubi leans against his back, kisses his neck, runs his tongue again over the line of his piercings and Kio moans, throwing his head back even as Soubi continues to fuck him and he fucks Ritsuka’s hand. He feels Ritsuka shifting and when he opens his eyes he sees the teen with his eyes focused over his shoulder and he bets Soubi’s eyes are wide open, focused back on Ritsuka.

Ritsuka reaches with his other hand to touch Soubi’s face and then says, with a voice that sounds thick and shivering. “Come, Soubi.”

There’s a small groan, a tightening over his hips and Kio’s vision flashes white as he spills over Ritsuka’s hand, giving a long moan that’s mix of Ritsuka and Soubi and he feels Soubi coming inside him.

When Soubi slips off him, Kio barely has enough mind left to roll a little to his side, just enough as to not crush Ritsuka, but he keeps the kid in his arms, sharing soft, lingering kisses. Soubi moves from the bed and when he returns he’s barely awake to do as he’s told and clean himself; they both clean Ritsuka, who barely flutters his eyes open at the feeling of a warm cloth pressing against sensitive skin, and he doesn’t say another thing as he rolls when Soubi gets inside the bed again, pressing his face against Soubi’s chest but keeping a hold over Kio’s arm around him.

Soubi smiles at him in a way softer than a kiss and Kio has but a moment to feel his lips curve in answer before he closes his eyes, feeling both Ritsuka and Soubi’s heartbeat through the hand that’s between their chests.

***

Kio wakes up to the sound of pencil scratching over paper, not a very unfamiliar sound. What’s slightly unfamiliar is the feeling of contentment, and peace.

A small body burrows closer to his, and when Kio opens his eyes and notices cat ears, his brain is wide awake.

“Fuck.” He says, quietly, feeling Ritsuka’s breathing against his chest, hands curled softly over pale skin.

“So early?” He hears Soubi say, and he turns his head as much as he can, looking at Soubi sitting nearby the bed. There are two cup of coffee over the nightstand, and Soubi is sketching while he smokes. “Really, Kio. You should eat breakfast at least.”

Whatever he was going to answer is lost when he feels Ritsuka shifting again, curling closer to him.

He thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might have been a bit harsh on calling Soubi a pervert so many times. Then, Ritsuka shifts against his side once more, a leg between his, and decides that he had been harsh, very much so, but at the moment he just snorts and moves on his back, leaning enough to snatch the cup of coffee and take a sip.

“Nice sketch,” he compliments, taking a peek of Soubi’s notebook. Ritsuka’s breathing is still deep and even, and he finds it hard to worry when Soubi’s eyes are so warm. “Very clean lines.”


	2. Hope Burns in Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Ritsuka and Soubi can be there for each other's nightmares, then Kio might be the one to remind them about normalcy every once in a while, at least.

  
**Hope Burns in Your Eyes.**   


With all his personal freaking out, the first days after, it takes Kio around two weeks before he notices that Ritsuka tenses in his presence and that the kid blushes and lashes out at him before running out of Soubi's place, tail bristling and ears flat against his head.

He decides that it's all kinds of fucked up that he turns towards _Soubi_ for assistance and Kio thinks that he didn't only cross a few lines, he might have even crossed a few dimensions if now he's the one asking for such a headcase for advice.

“Ritsuka is easily embarrassed,” Soubi says, a note of amused nostalgia in his voice and in his smile, using his thumb over the corner of his canvas. “He needs some time to think things over before he's okay to talk. He's not used to going over his troubles with other people.”

“And then why isn't he angry with _you_?” Kio asks, knowing that he's pouting and feeling like a six years old but unable to stop himself, even when he knows that it'd be far worse if the kid was actually angry with Soubi, with the way Soubi gets. Before all this happened, once he was sure that Ritsuka actually _cared_ for Soubi and he wasn't gonna let him broken and bleeding and not care, once he saw how deeply Ritsuka cared for his stupid best-friend-slash-crush, they've always been friends, kinda. Even when sometimes Rit-chan went all insecure and teenager over Soubi, Kio was the one to calm him down. Or when Soubi was Soubi, they'd both chew his head out and they'd take care of their idiot.

The fact that he might-kinda-maybe feel something more for the boy and that they, well, had sex and that Ritsuka didn't seem to mind very much and he was very responsive isn't enough to lose that previous relationship, and Kio has never done well with breaking up with people he cares about. Especially because he knows that if Ritsuka is really upset, Soubi will side up with the kid and then he'll lose them both.

“He isn't angry, Kio. Ritsuka is just feeling insecure,” Soubi repeats. Kio notices his smile grow and he kinda hates him a little for a moment. “And he is upset with me, too. I think mostly at how not upset I am.”

“Yeah, that's another thing I don't get. You're very okay with this,” Kio murmurs, eyebrow raised high. “Is it really?”

Soubi shrugs. “Ritsuka likes you, and he wanted to.” Kio sighs and shakes his head, a little defeated, because of course that Soubi would only do something like that if Ritsuka wanted and he really things he should know better and stop the bitterness from forming heavy over his stomach.

“And I wanted to do it, too,” Soubi adds, pausing a moment and frowning at the way the red mixes with the flowers he's been painstakingly creating for the last two hours or so.

Kio gapes and stares. Soubi cleans his brush and wipes his hand against his shirt before he leans towards him, hand on the back of his neck and the utter bastard takes advantage of his open mouth to start a deep kiss, his kiss still tasting of the pineapple candy Kio had given him. Kio closes his eyes and chases the taste, Soubi's kiss still unfamiliar but still so very wanted too, that Kio is almost upset with himself at how easy he lets himself grow distracted.

Soubi lets go then and smiles.

“I care too, Kio. I thought you already knew this?”

Kio blinks and then snorts, rolls his eyes. “Bastard.”

Soubi's smile remains there and if it's not as soft as he makes it for Ritsuka, not as tender and sweet, Kio knows Soubi is smiling because he wants to and he knows that, at the very least, it's honest. Soubi reaches for his cigarettes and Kio watches how he lights it, Soubi baring his throat as he takes a drag.

“There are things that I can't give to Ritsuka,” Soubi says, breathing out a cloud of smoke. His voice sounds contemplative and a little distant. Kind of sorry, perhaps, except for the part where the idiot is too much of an idiot to actually feel sorry, always a little too distant and a little too screwed up to actually feel like that. “Things that he should have. Things that you can show him.”

“And you too, right?” Kio snorts, but he feels a little less wary. He smiles even if he also feels like crying and beating his head against something hard because, seriously, this is all so fucked up and he should run away from this, he thinks. He should run away from getting even deeper into all this shit and he shouldn't be feeling so relieved that if this is actually happening, he'll get to help them perhaps a little more. “There are things you won't tell Rit-chan that you need too. Sou-chan...”

Soubi smiles but doesn't answer and Kio steals the cigarette and takes a deep drag to try and distract himself from the way his eyes almost sting. Soubi stands up, his hand a moment against the small of his back before he walks towards his drawers, taking off his stained shirt and puts a new one.

Kio blinks and looks towards the canvas which still only looks half-finished.

“Sou-chan?”

“I'll be back soon,” Soubi says, putting on his jacket. “You wait here.”

Kio shrugs, the cigarette still between his lips even as he sits back down. Soubi walks towards him and takes the cigarette away, takes another drag and then offers it back to him. Soubi smiles at him, touching his face a little and Kio thinks that he can't be sorry that now Soubi touches him despite not being one of the destined people, and now if only Ritsuka wouldn't hate him...

It can't be five minutes afterwards when he hears steps coming up the stairs, the door-knob twisting and he turns to look towards the door.

“Forgot something, Sou-...”

Ritsuka freezes by the door, school jacket open, his calm expression changing in three seconds to something closer to panic. Kio swallows the need to swear and he's quick to put off the cigarette, but other than that he stays where he is, sure that Ritsuka will run away if he moves and forget the fact that he loves the man, he's going to kill Soubi because he _knows_ the bastard was aware that Ritsuka was coming here and that's why he disappeared.

After a few moments of them staring to each other like that, with Ritsuka's ears pressed against his hair, Ritsuka finally moves and puts his school bag by the door and closes the door, takes off his shoes and walks towards the kitchen. Kio lets out the breath he was holding in and instead stands up, brushing sweaty hands against the side of his jeans.

“You hungry, Rit-chan?” Kio asks, trying to keep his voice cheery, wondering just how close is close.

The teenager shakes his head, just pouring himself some juice, still not turning towards him. At least he's not running away, Kio tells himself and stops before he gets too close, thumbs inside his pockets as a way to stop himself from reaching to tousle Ritsuka's hair or to chide him for his uniform.

“I ate something with Yuiko and Yayoi-san, thanks.”

Kio makes an affirmative noise, but the silence stretches in between them, thick and heavy and almost suffocating and Kio almost kicks himself because the fifteen years old is perfectly calm over there, drinking his juice and leaning against the sink as if nothing else mattered and he, twenty four years old, is squirming and trying not to shift on his feet.

It's not until he takes notice of Ritsuka's tail moving from side to side, almost twitching, and when he looks to Ritsuka's face and he looks the slight frown over his face that he realizes that Ritsuka is nervous, too, just that he's making a much better job at masking it.

Kio takes two deep breathes and thinks, screw it. One of them has to be the grown up and he is going to be the one, dammit.

“Rit-chan, about what happened –”

“Don't mention it,” Ritsuka interrupts. Kio stares at him, but Ritsuka just puts the glass down, hands over the edge of the sink, still not looking at him. “It's okay, Kio-san, really. You don't have to say a thing.”

Kio blinks a moment, confused, and then he frowns because Ritsuka sounds not sad, not exactly. He sounds almost the same way that Soubi has come back home injured and Ritsuka is taking care of the wounds like... rejected and perhaps a little scared and Kio takes a deep breath and tells himself what an idiot he has been, perhaps understanding a little now what Soubi was talking about, about what Ritsuka needed, about what Soubi needed. If Ritsuka and Soubi can be there for each other's nightmares, then Kio might be the one to remind them about normalcy every once in a while, at least.

The thing is, Kio sometimes forgets that Ritsuka is still a kid, even with the sudden growth spurt he hit that has him just a couple inches shorter than him now, even with the ears and tails and the way his eyes light up sometimes when something makes him happy. It's easy to forget when he has seen the kid since he was half his actual size taking care of Soubi's wounds, a frown over his face, or when Ritsuka didn't complain about a new bruise forming over his cheekbone, a new bandage over his arm.

Of course he was scared of something like that and since Kio hasn't exactly made it a secret that he is in love with Soubi, of course Ritsuka might think that he's about to be rejected, or that the night the three of them spent together was just him doing so because of Soubi. Kio sighs and moves a hand to scratch at his hair because he is fucking messed up if thinking about this still manages to make him happy.

“Rit-chan, I just want you to know, what happened wasn't just because of what I feel for Sou-chan, okay?” At that Ritsuka finally looks at him and Kio grins and gets a step closer. Ritsuka seems to twitch but he doesn't run away and that's good, too, that he doesn't mind him being near. He stops close enough that he could touch Ritsuka if he wanted, but he keeps his hands in his pockets. “ Because you're important to me too. A lot.”

“... we're friends.” Ritsuka nods and looks down, acknowledging the importance, and if he doesn't sound happy at least he doesn't sound so rejected.

But still. Kio nods and licks his lips and it's been years since he last said something like this to someone who didn't know, years since the first time he told Sou-chan he was interested in him.

“Yeah, we are,” he agrees and then he reaches to touch Ritsuka gently, a hand against his face, where he has a new band-aid. “But I also like you, Rit-chan.”

He feels the way Ritsuka tenses, feels his skin warm up but Ritsuka doesn't push him away. Kio decides to think about it as a good sign and he swallows around his uncertainty to keep on talking.

“I like our friendship, Rit-chan, and I'm more than okay with us staying as friends if that's what you want,” Kio keeps on going, thumb stroking at Ritsuka's cheekbone. “But if you want more... I'm really okay with that, too. I just want you to know it wouldn't be just because of Sou-chan, okay? It'd be because of you, too.”

Ritsuka does nothing after he finishes talking and Kio waits for a few moments before he moves his hand way and back inside his pocket, takes a few deep breathes while he decides now it's time to move away and give the teenager room to breathe again, but before he can even give a step to the side, Ritsuka's hand closes around his wrist and he steps close to him, almost chest to chest but still a little room between them.

Kio doesn't dare to breathe as Ritsuka leans his head against his chest, and Kio wonders if the teen's heart is beating as crazy as his.

He finally calls with a “...Rit-chan?” when the silences gets to be too much, Ritsuka's fingers almost painfully tight around his wrist.

“Don't call me that,” Ritsuka murmurs, still blushing, fingers twitching against his wrist as if he doesn't know if he can hold on or no.

Kio takes a deep breath and lets go before he moves an arm around Ritsuka, leaning his head against Ritsuka's and gently kissing his temple, Ritsuka's hair tickling his face.

“Ritsuka, then,” Kio answers with the starts of a smile and he moves his other arm – Ritsuka's hold on his wrist loosening - smiles to be around Ritsuka's shoulders, smiling when Ritsuka looks at him almost shyly, placing his hands on his hips. “And I get to be plain ol' Kio, right?”

He waits, almost breathless, for the kid to nod his head just once, eyes still on him, before he leans forward, brushes his lips against Ritsuka's, eyes half open, giving all the room to do this or or not to the boy.

Ritsuka breaks apart after a moment of the soft touch, but it's just long enough to draw a shaky breath and lick his own lips before he takes a small step to get even closer, his hands now actually holding to his shirt even as he presses their lips together. Kio welcomes the kiss gladly, moves one of his hands down Ritsuka's back where he'd feel the bumps of his spine if not for the school jacket, his other hand on the back of Ritsuka's neck between the warmth of his skin and the softness of his dark hair.

Ritsuka kisses him as if he's trying to make a point, as if he's trying to show how much he wants this and as if he's dong his best to hide any possible hesitance or doubts he might have. Kio lets him take charge like that but he also slows the touch, draws a bit apart and feels a swell of arousal when Ritsuka leans forward to try to keep the kiss from breaking apart, hungry for this, for him. Ritsuka is still flushed when he opens his eyes but he doesn't look so nervous now and Kio smiles, leans forward and Ritsuka finds him halfway there for another kiss, now slower so that Kio can learn the way Ritsuka's tongue twines with his or the way he can feel Ritsuka's hands over his shirt.

Ritsuka backs him against the cupboard, the edge digging almost painfully against Kio's back but with the way Ritsuka is kissing him it's easy to ignore it. Kio sighs into the kiss, shivering when Ritsuka's fingers touch the stripe of skin his shirt doesn't quite cover and returns the favor by curling his fingers with Ritsuka's hair just enough that the teenager gasps, shuddering against him.

The edge of the cupboard is getting to be perhaps a little too much but Kio ignores it again as Ritsuka licks his neck and he can almost feel Ritsuka's hesitation before the teenager's teeth close gently against his earlobe and he tugs at it before swirling his tongue against the first two piercings there and the thought of Ritsuka doing this with Soubi, with Soubi spread on the sheets and Ritsuka's mouth closed around his ear or, fuck, his cock makes Kio moan, his own cock thickening when he thinks that maybemaybe _maybe_ he's going to get to be part of that.

He can feel Ritsuka hard against his thigh, Ritsuka a little breathless as he rocks towards his touch, lips now against his collarbone and his hands still clenched over his hips and Kio breathes in and out slowly before he moves his thigh jut enough for Ritsuka to get some friction and the teen whimpers then so Kio does it again, his leg between Ritsuka's and with Ritsuka pressing him against the cupboard, but his weight feels good against him and Ritsuka shudders as he moves against him, the teenager panting against his neck and rocking against him, tiny shudders running over his back and Kio shivers, too, one hand flat against the cupboard and the other one flat beneath Ritsuka's shirt and he teases the skin around his tail and he gasps when that makes Ritsuka moan his name.

He knows it's not going to last much even if Ritsuka had seemed to know about how to touch him, how to make Soubi react and Kio wonders if one day it'll be okay to ask but for now he moves his thigh a bit more to help Ritsuka, ignores his own erection and when Ritsuka shivers and moans his release against his neck, holding unto him to keep himself standing up. Kio doesn't think that Ritsuka might bolt this time, not like the first time after he woke up with him and Soubi talking, but he still holds unto him, sure that if it happens again, there'll be no possible way for this to even begin.

After a few moments, Ritsuka moves a little, stands over his own feet and Kio finally lets go of the cupboard, moving a hand to rub at his back. Ritsuka is blushing again and he licks his lips, still standing close.

“You didn't...”

Kio shakes his head even when he knows Ritsuka is looking at his shoes, but he makes himself smile.

“We'll leave that for other time,” he adds with a hopeful smile, nervousness threatening to make him choke even more than not coming. That he can take care off quickly enough. The rest... “Okay, Rit-chan?”

Ritsuka huffs, still blushing even as he moves away, making a face at his clothes. Before Kio can ask again, Ritsuka leans towards him again, brushing his lips against his gently, just once.

“Only if you don't call me that.”

And then Ritsuka offers him a hesitant smile but it's _there_ and Kio laughs, giddy with relief even as he drags the boy into a hug, calling him all kind of cutesy names that make the teenager complain as he tries to push him away.

“Ah. I see that you've made up,” Soubi announces as he comes back, taking off his shirt and the damn bastard sounds _so damn smug_ that it just takes a shared glance from Ritsuka before they team up against him.

Kio is so giddy with relief that by the time the tickling and pushing turns into kissing once more that he ends up laughing against Soubi's neck, even with Ritsuka calling out loud a 'freaks'.

He can deal with this alright.


End file.
